AT film tour coming to Franklin

The Appalachian Trail Conservancy will show the film “Appalachian Impressions,” Friday, Oct. 18, at Drake Educational Center in Franklin. The evening begins at 6:30 p.m. with refreshments, followed by the film, trail information, a meet-and-greet with hikers, expert speakers and a raffle.

The film features stories from hikers who have hiked the Appalachian Trail, and about the changing seasons and different trail towns along the route from Georgia to Maine. The film is on a 15-city nationwide tour and is part of a push by the conservancy to sign up 2,180 new members this year, one new member for each mile of the Appalachian Trail.

Registration for the event includes a membership to the conservancy. Tickets are $30 per adult and are available online.

The Naturalist's Corner

My family and I made a quick run up to Waterrock Knob on the Blue Ridge Parkway around dusk last Sunday (July 19) to get a peek at some celestial luminaries. Venus and Jupiter joined the waxing crescent moon on the western horizon. They danced and played hide and seek amidst layered clouds whose purple backs touched the night while their bellies bathed in the last yellow and orange rays of the sun falling over the western horizon. It was a beautiful, tranquil setting.